Our good friend PicturePan2 from LiveSino.net will be in Shanghai (starting at 9:45am October 23rd Shanghai time, GMT +8), another friend and compatriot Chris Poirier is heading to New York for us on the 25th, and of course I’ll be travelling to San Francisco on the 28th to be at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium bright and early on the 29th to hear all about Windows Phone 8, and then sprinting back to Seattle just in time for the DevExpress party on Monday night, a big day of keynotes and news from Build on the 30th, our own little Build Blogger Bash later that evening, and another couple of days of intense Build-ness in Redmond.

After that, the real fun begins, as we’ll finally be able to see how Windows 8, Microsoft Surface, and Windows Phone 8 do this holiday season, and get our collective hands on some long anticipated hardware and software.

While we won’t be playing with a brand new Microsoft Surface RT (although we’re awfully tempted by the new HP Envy X2, coming out in December), and we’re waiting for AT&T to sort through their shenanigans about listing the Nokia 920 for sale, there’s still going to be lots to keep us busy in the coming weeks. In no particular order, here’s what we’re waiting for:

Xbox SmartGlass

Xbox Music

Xbox Video (??)

the Windows Phone 8 sync story

an Outlook.com styled (and long overdue updated) Calendar

some sales numbers

Verizon’s place in all this

Kinect for Windows

… and hopefully lots more surprises, too.

What’s getting you most excited? Is this the beginning of a new golden age for Microsoft? Or could we be on the edge of a colossal fail? Have you pre-ordered a Surface or a Windows Phone, or are you waiting to see what Apple and Google’s next moves are? Let us know in the comments, and whatever you do, don’t change that dial!! No matter what happens, it’s going to be a heck of a ride!